How to realize facts of existence? (old age, sickness, death & separation)?

Question

"I am sure to become old
I cannot avoid aging

I am sure to become ill
I cannot avoid illness

I am sure to die
I cannot avoid death

I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me.
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How do I appreciate these realities? I am 36.

Answer 1

~You will soon, you're going through a mid life crisis. Death is a part of life. Maybe some hobbies will help in the mean time?
Good luck to you and God Bless.~

*You're too young to worry about death. When you get closer to the end of your life, you'll begin to accept illnesses, loss of loved ones, and especially death.
Most elders come to the point where they realize they've lived their lives and they're tired.
Live for today, tomorrow is another day.

Answer 2

To start with, realize that they are FACTS, not possibilities. The reason things get so scary is because we think we have a choice. If you drive carefully, you can avoid an accident, if you make the right career decisions, you can avoid having a horrible job etc etc, so when we think about those things, they are scary because we don't know if we are making the right choices. But with age, illness and death we have no choice, as you say. We can delay illness and death with wise choices, we can feel younger than we are with the right diet and excercise and genetics, but it is only a stall, we cannot put it off forever. Therefore we must just accept.
We put it in the hands of God, or Allah or whoever you believe in.

My divorce was a horrible thing to go through, and actually putting an end to the relationship was hard because it wasn't the way I wanted it to go, very hard to accept. But once I realised that I'd done all there was to do about it, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, I put it in the hands of God, accepted it, and dealt with it.
Burying my daughter was the hardest thing I've ever done, and for a few hours I thought that maybe if I didn't turn up at the cemetary it wouldn't be real, and I could avoid the whole thing. But it was real, and nothing I could do about it. I had no other choice but to accept it, and place it in God's hands.
Nothing you can say, do, think, wish, expect, want or need, will ever change some facts of life. Accept that they are all part of a bigger plan, one that we can't see, and accept that it's for a reason, and you might find it easier.

Oh, and you forgot TAXES as another thing we can't avoid!! hahaha
Good luck!

Answer 3

Yes , first you are not guaranteed , to grow old , Mmmkkaayy
you are not guaranteed to become severely ill , mmkkayyy

all you are guaranteed in life is death , some people say death ,and taxes but some die before ever paying taxes....

Death can not be avoided ,after all no one leaves this world alive, all you can do is be ready , I am a year older than you , I have already picked my final resting place, my kids picked out the clothes for burial ,and they picked my coffin,and vault.. I did not want them to be burdened by the expenses , as was I when my girlfriends dad past a few weeks ago here at my home, he had nothing so the basic funeral was $6000.00 plus the grave $2000.00 then the fee to dig ,and cover up $1000.00 and not to forget the headstone $2300.00 so do not leave your family to pay 10 to $11,000.00 for your final expenses ,and it had to be paid before the funeral , that is a lot for a loved one to go through during the first 24 hours following your death .... sucks not to be able to afford to die ???? I was fortunate enough to be able to do that for my children , my house is paid off in 2 years if I go before then there is enough in the bank for the pay off.. Don't leave your family to straighten out you financial mess, be responsible,and get it done for them , today would be good as you are not guaranteed tomorrow........ And if you have life insurance still make your final plans it will be that much more they can keep ,and they do not have to make these decisions at such a difficult time. A large life insurance plan will give them a gift of a better life ,and brighter future ,and it is affordable if you do not over spend on worldly possesions....

Answer 4

At 36, the end is still too far away to imagine it really happening. But I think if you were to talk to old people(70+), you'll find that they aren't very worried about it. I know my dad would always say that he was just sitting in his trailer, waiting to die, at age 75 and he did by age 80. I think it's a part of the glory of youth; that feeling of invincibility. Men have this stronger than women do. My bf is 43 and when I asked him what he was going to do when he retired, because his job is physically demanding, and so he wouldn't be able to do it past 65, and he said to me "what do you mean? I'm not going to retire). I thought he must be kidding, and to this day, he still denies he'll get that far. He's only 22 years away from it, and he still can't grasp the concept.
I say worry about it later. If you let "what if" rule your life, you'll never be happy. Don't sweat the things you cannot change. What you can do is dedicate your time to experiencing life to the fullest, be all you can be, and don't take all that is dear to you for granted. Spend time with your family. The best therapy for you would be helping out in an old age home. I think it would do wonders in making you feel young and strong, and too full of life to be worried about what headstone you'd like on your grave. You'll see that you have decades before you start looking like them! Enjoy your life!

Answer 5

The teaching of Gautama Buddha. Part of the 4 noble truths I think.

Answer 6

study buddhism - those are the 3 realizations that the prince had before he started on his path to enlightenment